Baker Seeks Two-Month Sales Tax Holiday

With Massachusetts on track to end the year with a multi-billion dollar surplus, Gov. Charlie Baker on Wednesday proposed a two-month sales tax holiday that would give consumers a break from the state's 6.25 percent sales tax in August and September in an effort to drive shoppers to local businesses.

The major tax relief proposal would cost the state an estimated $900 million in forgone revenue, but the Republican governor said it would also be a way for the state to show appreciation to business owners and consumers who have contributed to the surplus by finding ways to support each other during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Baker said he would file legislation Wednesday to expand the annual sales tax holiday from a two-day weekend in August to a two-month event, believing it would help give the state's economy "some momentum as we come out of this sort of pandemic doldrums that we've been in."

As it stands now, the tax-free holiday has been set for the weekend of Aug. 14 and Aug. 15.

Read more: https://www.wgbh.org/news/politics/2021/06/23/baker-seeks-two-month-sales-tax-holiday